The Korea Herald

[Newsmaker] Trump to skip press dinner amid media row

President Donald Trump ratcheted up an increasingly hostile feud with the media Saturday, announcing he would skip a century-old annual correspondents’ dinner a day after a fierce row erupted over press access to the White House.　The Trump White House triggered widespread outrage on Friday by denying access to an off-camera briefing to several major US media, including CNN, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Politico.　Smaller outlets that have provided favorable coverage of the Trump

World News Feb. 26, 2017

[Newsmaker] Trump to skip press dinner amid media row

[Newsmaker] Germany elects ‘anti-Trump’ Steinmeier as president

Billed as Germany's “anti-Trump,” former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Sunday as the new head of state, vowing to stand up to simplistic populist rhetoric.　The 61-year-old, who regularly polls as Germany’s most popular politician, will represent the EU's top economy abroad in the largely ceremonial post and act as a kind of moral arbiter for the nation.　His Social Democrats (SPD) hope the appointment will boost their fortunes just as their candidate Martin Schulz, the form

World News Feb. 13, 2017

[Newsmaker] Germany elects ‘anti-Trump’ Steinmeier as president

[Newsmaker] Le Pen vows ‘France first’ at campaign launch

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen vowed Sunday she would be a president who puts France first as she formally launched a campaign echoing many of the themes that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.　With polls showing her now leading the first round of the election race, the head of the National Front (FN) attacked “mass immigration.” globalization and “Islamic fundamentalism” and said she wanted a country “which owes nothing to anyone.”　In a speech in the central city of Lyon less than three

World News Feb. 6, 2017

[Newsmaker] Le Pen vows ‘France first’ at campaign launch

[Editorial] Hold Woo accountable

While the team of independent counsel Park Young-soo is poised to question President Park Geun-hye later this week, investigators are closing in on another key target of their probe, Woo Byung-woo.　The team questioned Saturday the owner of a major gallery about Woo’s purchases of high-priced paintings. Investigators also summoned a police officer for the second time Sunday in connection with allegations that Woo exerted influence to secure a personnel-related favor for his son, who was serving h

Editorial Feb. 6, 2017

[Newsmaker] Court nominee Gorsuch praised by some liberals

Neil Gorsuch, named Tuesday as President Donald Trump's nominee to the US Supreme Court, has a solidly conservative pedigree that has earned him comparison to the combative justice he would replace, Antonin Scalia. 　Gorsuch clerked for two Supreme Court justices and worked in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department before being appointed to the federal bench and authoring a series of sharply written, conservative opinions. His mother, Anne, ran President Ronald Reagan's Environmental Prote

World News Feb. 1, 2017

[Newsmaker] Court nominee Gorsuch praised by some liberals

[Newsmaker] Trump praises the CIA, bristles over inaugural crowd counts

On his first full day in office, President Donald Trump on Saturday berated the media over its coverage of his inauguration, and turned a bridge-building first visit to CIA headquarters into an airing of grievances about ``dishonest‘’ journalists. But it was Trump who spread inaccuracies about the size of the crowds at his swearing in.　Standing in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents, Trump assured intelligence officials, ``I am so behind you.‘’ He made no mention of his repeated criticism

World News Jan. 22, 2017

[Newsmaker] Trump praises the CIA, bristles over inaugural crowd counts

[Newsmaker] Earth breaks heat record for 3rd year in row

Last year, the Earth sweltered under the hottest temperatures in modern times for the third year in a row, US scientists said Wednesday, raising new concerns about the quickening pace of climate change.　Temperatures spiked to new national highs in parts of India, Kuwait and Iran, while sea ice melted faster than ever in the fragile Arctic, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.　Taking a global average of the land and sea surface temperatures for the entire year,

World News Jan. 19, 2017

[Newsmaker] Earth breaks heat record for 3rd year in row

[Newsmaker] Distraught Davos finds globalization savior in Xi

China‘s President Xi Jinping speaks in the Congress Hall on day one of the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday. EPA-YonhapDAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) -- With Donald Trump about to get the keys to the White House and the political winds blowing a populist gale through Europe, Enter stage left Chinese President Xi Jinping, who in an hourlong speech Tuesday won over a crowd of ardent capitalists gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 　“I’

World News Jan. 18, 2017

[Newsmaker] Distraught Davos finds globalization savior in Xi

[Newsmaker] Europe, NATO hit back at Trump

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- EU heavyweights Germany and France led a sharp European response to US President-elect Donald Trump Monday after he branded NATO “obsolete” and said more countries would leave the EU after Britain.　In a hard-hitting interview with two European newspapers, Trump unleashed a volley of verbal attacks on Europe and criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “catastrophic” decision to open Germany’s borders to Syrian refugees.　With fears growing in Europe over Trump’s commitment t

World News Jan. 17, 2017

[Newsmaker] Europe, NATO hit back at Trump

SpaceX launches rocket for first time since blast

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with 10 Iridium NEXT communications satellites lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Space Launch Complex 4E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Saturday. AP-YonhapMIAMI (AFP) -- SpaceX on Saturday successfully launched and landed its first unmanned Falcon 9 rocket since a costly and complicated launchpad explosion in September.　“Liftoff of the Falcon 9,” a SpaceX commentator said as the tall white rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Californi

World News Jan. 15, 2017

SpaceX launches rocket for first time since blast

[Editorial] Extradition of Chung

The Ministry of Justice on Thursday sent a formal request to Denmark for the extradition of Chung Yoo-ra.　Chung is a high-profile suspect in the scandal involving her mother, Choi Soon-sil, and President Park Geun-hye. The only daughter of Choi went on the run in Europe after her mother presented herself to prosecutors in South Korea. Choi was jailed and is currently on trial.　　Chung was arrested Sunday night in the Danish town of Aalborg for overstaying her visa. A Danish district court Monday

Editorial Jan. 6, 2017

[Other view] What’s the rush to kill Obamacare?

For seven years, Republicans have yearned to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Now that they have the chance, they seem wholly unprepared to do it right. Much work is still needed to figure out how to avoid destabilizing the health-insurance system. Yet, in their hurry, leaders in Congress seem to want to skip that part. What’s the rush?　　Republicans are allowing themselves just three weeks to develop a budget bill that would scuttle “Obamacare” -- ending the tax penalties on people who don’t h

Editorial Jan. 6, 2017

[Editorial] Crucial moment

US President-elect Donald Trump is giving some clues to what his North Korea policy will be like. One positive thing coming through is that unlike his predecessor, he is expected to be make resolving the North Korean nuclear issue a priority. The problem is that the clues are not yet clear enough to predict how. 　In his first comment on North Korea since his election, Trump said Monday that North Korea wouldn’t be able to develop a nuclear arsenal capable of reaching the continental US. He al

Editorial Jan. 5, 2017

[Other view] The new Syria reality

The fall of Aleppo and the adjusted alignment of international parties involved in the Syrian conflict have important implications for the future of that country as well as for the United States’ overall role in the Middle East.　What should be -- but is not necessarily -- the primary concern of all parties with respect to the Syrian conflict is to bring it and the human suffering it has produced to an end, as soon as possible. The loss of Aleppo by the various rebel groups holding out there to t

Editorial Jan. 5, 2017

[Editorial] Fund scandal

Investigators from the independent counsel have raided an office of the National Pension Service, playing a part in a variety of allegations stemming from President Park Geun-hye’s scandal.　The state-run fund operator is suspected of having offered an irregular favor to Samsung Group in return for the conglomerate’s donation to shady foundations. The entities were reportedly backed by Park or her civilian confidante Choi Soon-sil.　Last year, the NPS -- as a large shareholder -- voted in favor of

Editorial Dec. 23, 2016

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